Method oe cutting boot-fbonts



JNO. DICK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF CUTTING BOOT-FRONTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,992, dated July 2-7, 1858,.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN DICK, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and improved method of cutting boot-fronts, by which the front can be made into a boot without undergoing the process of crimping; and I do hereby declare the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- F ignre l is a plan view of a boot front, showing the principle of cutting it, and the shape of the cuts to be given to it, and Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the same doubled together, showing the form assumed by the apertures made by the cuts, when the foot part of it is extended to the position it will occupy when made into a boot.

A is the front, which can be made from any description of leather now used for whole fronts, or from morocco or patent leather, which cannot now be used for such fronts, in consequence of the crimping operation, now required to bring the foot part of it to position, injuring their coating and enamel. The exterior lines of the front are cut the same as at present, except the top one, which is cut about three inches lower on account of that amount of length in the front being saved, as hereinafter described. The cut B is made on the line of the side seam C of a length equal to the height to be given to the counter of the boot, and the cut D is then made from the termination of that cut to within about one half of an inch of the center of the width of the front, on a line directed to the point of the front which sets upon the instep of the foot when the front is made into a boot. A similar cut to each of those above described is made upon the opposite edge of the front, leaving the upper and lower parts of the front held together by the part E. The front can then be doubled together and the foot part of it be drawn into position, as shown in Fig. 2, and it is ready to be made into a boot as soon as it is cut, as the slight wrinkling which takes place in a leather front by the bending of the part E can be rubbed down on a boot tree in a few moments, while the wrinkling of morocco or patent leather is not sutlicient tobe noticed and is left untouched.

The apertures formed by withdrawing' the edges of the cuts from each other, as shown in Fig. 2, are tted by pieces of leather or morocco, or patent leather, of shape to fit, sewed in before the front and back are sewed together. They can be filled with leather or material of a different color from the front, so as to impart to the boot an ornamental appearance.

A saving of about three inches in the length of material required for a front is effected by this improvement, as the points of the cuts marked l and 2.are separated about that distance in a full sized front, making that increase in length of it when put in place in a boot over the common method, when t-he length of the front when put in place is only equal to the distance of the points 3 and et.

The ordinary method of cutting fronts is objectionable on account of the time and labor required for the crimping operation requisite to put them in form to be used, and for the injury done to the leather by working out its oil by the Water used upon it in that operation, while morocco or patent leather cannot be used at all for a whole front as the crimping process either greatly injures, or entirely destroys their appearance and quality.

The material saved in the length of the front more than repays the cost of inserting the pieces in the apertures named, while the cost of crimping is saved entirely, at the same time that the leather or material used in the front remains in its natural position and is uninjured by stretching or compresslon.

I am aware that boot fronts have been made without crimping by being made of more than one piece of leather or other material, and I do not therefore claim making a boot front which can be used without bcing crimped, but

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-l Cutting a boot front out of a single piece of leather or other material to the form herein described or to any other form substantially the same, whereby it can be used (in making' the same into a boot) without undergoing the operation of crimping as herein set forth.

JOHN DICK. 

